DJD-anyone know much about it?

booboo

booboo

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Jun 25, 2005
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hia i ride a horse who was diagnosed with DJD in may.
he is now back in work(walk and trot) and is on a supplement and seems to be fine.
I also know another pony who i ride sometimes and she also has DJD but was diagnosed about 2 years ago.She seems fine now but when she was diagnosed seemed to be lame for some time. she was on bute then but is now on extra flex which is doing a better job and better for her:p
so just wondering what peoples experiance (sp) is on DJD?
was the horse fine with work after been diagnosed?
how much work did they do after been diagnosed?
what type of work did they do afetr been diagnosed?
How were they a few years down the line with, lameness issues, work wise etc?
what supplements do you use and find works best?
thanks for reading
xxx
 
DJD is quite difficult to generalise about, it depends on so many factors, age, conformation, joints affected-( the lower down on the horse the less scope there is for the rest of the body to compenstate) and diet.
The latest supplement being prescribed is sinequin, which I found quite helpful for my horse.regular exercise helps, stabling for long periods tends to stiffen the joints, although, I found magnotherapy benefical.Some horses manage quite happily for years after diagnosis, others are not so lucky as the degeneration may be aggressive.
generally speaking, keeping weight down, regular exercise, good nutrition and keeping the horse warm and dry as much as possible, minimising concussion-ie, no fast work on hard ground all things that help horses with DJD.
 
My QH gelding was diagnosed with degenerative joint disease in the hockswhen he was 23yrs old. His symptoms were that he had less "umph" in step especially in the trot. He felt off. As the days progresses, he got worse, his gaits weren't as fluid.

Once diagnosed, I was cold hosing him 2x/day for a long period as well as apply DMSO on the hocks. And of course rest until he improved. Because of his age, his past and the extent of the degenaration, the vet found that it was better to retire him fully. I don't remember him being on bute I think it was so that he could feel the discomfort so that he wouldn't extend the damage. So give his joints a rest.

He improved very well with therapy and no exercise other than what he imposed on himself.
 
My horse was diagnosed when he was only 12yo, but the vet said it was a very minor case. He gets stiff if he doesn’t get a proper warm up, but I am still allowed to jump him. I think it really depends on the case.
 
yes the horse i ride is 15 year and the vet sad he will be able to jump providing a good warm up coll down and not too much of it. at the moment he is on sinequin but its very expensive :eek:
thanks for replies anyway :D
 
A horse on our yard has a particularly 'set in' case of bone spavin as the root cause of DJD at only 6 years old :( He isn't been worked enough as the owners have no idea what they are meant to be doing and think 10mins in the school is adequate every other day.

He is pretty much constantly lame, and is on 1 bute a day. Think he's going to be given an imported drug called Tildren? not sure if thats right.
 
I think Tildren's still under trial and not yet licensed in UK ? Someone on NR has been part of the trials.

My mare is recently diagosed. But is leaping around since so if I hadn't seen the x-rays it would be hard to believe. About to book her first Adequan injection.

chewitmonster - the reason Fi got diagnosed is cos I did slightly more work than usual, and it set the soreness off again. Right now I am working out what level she can cope with but she would be sore and lame if I did more than a certain amount...

I have been told "light hacking" would probably be ok (by my vet)...

so I suspect the exercise advise depends on the joint, degree of degeneration etc...
 
chewitmonster said:
A horse on our yard has a particularly 'set in' case of bone spavin as the root cause of DJD at only 6 years old :( He isn't been worked enough as the owners have no idea what they are meant to be doing and think 10mins in the school is adequate every other day.

He is pretty much constantly lame, and is on 1 bute a day. Think he's going to be given an imported drug called Tildren? not sure if thats right.
Click to expand...
Did they not listen to the vet? I did my research beforehand and knew Aramis would need exercise. She now gets ridden every day for half an hour mainly in walk with short spells of trot. I will start hacking her up hills soon.
 
jenren!! said:
Did they not listen to the vet? I did my research beforehand and knew Aramis would need exercise. She now gets ridden every day for half an hour mainly in walk with short spells of trot. I will start hacking her up hills soon.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately they are the type of frustrating owners who don't actually want a horse. He is a possession to them and they would rather someone else sorted the problem as it is obviously just inconvenient.
 
chewitmonster said:
Yeah, its basically oestoarthritis :)
Click to expand...

Well then I do have experience of it :) one of my horses has arthritis in his knees and slightly in his hocks. He has Cortaflex everyday which helps to slow down any further de-generation and he has had his knees injected with steroids.
Is there anything in particular you wanted to know ??:)
 
Gaetano has DJD in both front fetlocks. He was diagnosed at 7. He has pigeon toes and the extra stress while being an endurance horse probably caused it. He was of work and on Bute for about 6 months to start off with. It was caught in very early stages luckily.

He is competing Novice level dressage he is on no supplements at the moment. In the winter he has cider vinegar in his feeds. I work him in sesamoid boots, only compete on surfaces and just take care on hrd uneven ground.

I think it does depend on where it is and how bad it is. He is 12 now and have managed to keep him sound since he was diagnosed. I understand cortaflex is very good.
 
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